Friday, April 29, 6 PM, the exhibition “ARTscape: LATVIA” will be opened in VARTAI Gallery (Vilniaus St. 39) introducing the works of the Latvian artist Miks Mitrēvics and Lithuanian painter Linas Jusionis.

Miks Mitrēvics (born 1980 in Riga) is one of the leading internationally acclaimed Latvian young generation artists. In 1999–2005, he studied Visual Communication in the Art Academy of Latvia; currently he is continuing his studies in Higher Institute for Fine Arts (HISK), Ghent, Belgium.
Mitrēvics participated in the Biennial of Contemporary Art Manifesta7 (Rovereto, Italy) in 2008, and represented Latvia in the 53rd Venice Biennial (together with E. Deičmane) in 2009. At 2008 artist received the Swedbank Art Award.

The works of Miks Mitrēvics can be distinguished for the use of different materials and techniques creating theatrical and space-filling installations. Everyday objects, photography cutouts and elements from nature find a place in his works as if in miniature scene settings. Shadows, video projections, wind simulated by fans, smoke machines, solar cells, etc. are equally important. It is a unique visual story conveying the dialectical nature of both the internal and the external aspects of the artist’s works.
The artist’s first personal show in Lithuania consists of two projects. In the installation Entropy Cube (2009), objects combined in a fragmented and intuitive manner work as references to the inevitable and constant deterioration of the system gaining superiority over order. It is the unstoppable and even brutally destructive entropy and it’s only the matter of time when it happens – “sooner or later concrete will crack, the temple will crumble, and the ‘white cube’ gallery will end too”.

The installation Silence of the Walls (2010) is the artist’s attempt to render the feeling of alienation through random everyday objects and their fragments in an emotional instead of a rational way. Objects comprising this art work are removed from their daily context, but together they strike up a poetic dialogue, while the author absorbs them and enables the viewer to dive into memories, dreams, and visionary state between the real and the fictional.

Linas Jusionis (born 1986 in Vilnius) has been studying in Vilnius Academy of Arts since 2007. Recently, the painter has been very actively participating in group exhibitions as well as holding personal shows.

The works of the Lithuanian young generation artist can be distinguished for ideological and plastic consistency. The author is mostly interested in the narrative aspect of painting. His works contain frozen and fragmented scenes; the viewpoint is observational, impersonal and focused on details. The works show landscapes and interiors as classical genres of painting. However, both the central objects and the story are left beyond the frame of canvases. Thus, the works of Jusionis create the tension between the satisfaction with the image and the deliberately concealed story.
The visitors of the exhibition will have an opportunity to see previously not exhibited works of the young artist that maintain the restraint of emotions and colours, and the ephemeral nature of the content.

“Vilnius - European Capital of Culture 2009“ project “ARTscape“ is a large-scale project that involves contemporary art, cinema and jazz, co-organized by some of the most qualified cultural institutions: Kino Pavasaris, Vilnius Jazz and VARTAI Gallery. From the beginning of “ARTscape” project in 2009 gallery VARTAI has presented over 14 internationally well known artists: Tatjana Doll (German), Atelier Van Lieshout (Netherlands), Erwin Wurm (Austria), Hans Op de Beeck (Belgium), Jesper Just (Denmark), etc.